Every summer, my swim team has a picnic. Mom used to make potato salad for me. This year, _________, I wanted to try making something on my own.

I spent hours looking through recipe (菜谱) books and finally _________ to make apple pie. But then I met a(n) _________: the recipe needed six apples, and I had just three. _________, I found strawberries in the fridge. “That’s it! I’ll make strawberry-apple pie.” Two hours later, my pie was ready, not _________ nice, but it smelled so good that I couldn’t wait to _________ it.

At the picnic, when I was just _________ to show my pie, Maddie put down a very nice box. She said, “_________ the box is the most beautiful pie you can ever imagine. I bought it from the best pastry (糕点) shop in the town.” While everybody’s eyes were on it, I quietly _________ my bag of pie under the table.

I was feeling so __________ about my pie that I just sat on the grass alone. Suddenly, John cried out loud, “Come on, guys, here I found the most __________ pie under the table! Someone must have forgotten it.” Everyone went up and tried some. The pie was __________ in no time.

Seeing it was __________ strawberry-apple pie, I laughed __________.

From this __________, I knew I shouldn’t compare and worry about what everyone might think and we shouldn’t judge (判断) a pie by its look, either.

My husband, a science writer, had just won an award for his writing from a chemistry association, and we were invited to the big award dinner.

I was excited but also _________, for I was having an identity crisis (危机). I had _________ my job when pregnant, because I thought raising kids was important work, and _________ it. Though working harder than ever, I didn’t get any _________ from my social network, however.

After the host listed all the _________ of my husband, he introduced me, a housewife and mother of two. This was the first time I had found myself _________ by those words. All the people present, mainly scientists, started _________ to each other. My face immediately turned red with _________. I thought they must see me as a _________.

At the end of the dinner, people walked around and chatted. I sat at the big round table alone, feeling __________. Then one of older female scientists __________ me and said what I was doing was so __________. She went away before I had a chance to __________ her. She had given me __________ what I needed at that time.

Now, when I see a woman during the middle of a workday __________ a stroller (婴儿车), I will tell her what she is doing is valuable.

It is believed that a typical lion tamer(驯兽师)is an entertainer holding a whip(鞭)and a chair. The whip gets all of the attention, but it’s _________ for show. In reality, it’s the chair that does the important work. When a lion tamer holds a chair in front of the lion’s face, the lion tries to _________ all four legs of the chair at the same time. With its focus _________ , the lion becomes confused and is unsure about what to do next. When faced with so many _________ , the lion has no choice but to _________ and wait instead of attacking the man holding the chair.

How often do you find yourself in the same _________ as the lion? How often do you have something you want to achieve (e. g. lose weight, start a business, travel more)—only to end up confused by all of the options in front of you and never make _________ ?

This upsets me to no _________ because while all the experts are _________   debating about which option is best, the people who want to improve their lives are left confused by all of the __________ information. The end __________ is that we feel like we can’t focus or that we’re focused on the wrong things, and so we take less action, make less progress, and stay the same when we could be __________ .

It doesn’t have to be that way. Anytime you find the world waving a __________ in your face, remember this: All you need to do is focus on one thing. You just need to get started. Starting before you feel __________ is one of the habits of successful people. If you have somewhere you want to go, something you want to accomplish, someone you want to become, take __________ action. If you’re clear about where you want to go, the rest of the world will either help you get there or get out of the way.